Context for Learning Description of School and Students


Troll Logo.gifTrinity Christian College Field Experience Form
Context for Learning
Description of School and Students

About the School Where You Are Observing or doing Field Experience
School Name and City: Columbus East School
Type of School: Elementary school, Middle School, High School, or Other:  Elementary
Setting: Urban, Suburban, or Rural:Suburban

Write your responses to the three questions below in paragraph form.
1.      List any special features of the school or classroom setting (e.g., themed magnet, classroom aide, bilingual, co-taught with a special education teacher, pull-out program).
The setting is a co-taught reading intervention 4th grade transitional classroom.

2.    Describe any district, school, or cooperating teacher requirements or expectations that affects the planning or delivery of instruction, such as required curricula, pacing plan, use of specific instructional strategies, or standardized tests. The district adopted a Ready Gen curriculum and they do adhere to the Common Core Standards in Illinois.

3.    For special education only: List any educators with specialized expertise in the school/district (e.g., specific disabilities, subject-specific pedagogy, English language development, speech therapists). One student needs a speech therapist.

About the Students in this Class [Give a brief or one word response]
1.    Estimated percentage of students eligible for free/reduced lunch:
2.    Grade level(s): 4th
3.    Number of
a.    students in the class: 18
b.    males: 8
females: 10
c.    English language learners: 5
d.    students identified as gifted and talented: 3
e.    students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans: 1
4.    Complete the chart below to summarize required accommodations or modifications for students receiving special education services and/or students who are gifted and talented as they will affect instruction. As needed, consult with your cooperating teacher to complete the chart. The first row has been completed in italics as an example. Use as many rows as you need.

Special Education
Category
Number of Students
Accommodations, Modifications, and/or Pertinent IEP Goals
Example: Learning Disability
Example: 4
Example: Close monitoring, follow up, and Resource Room
Memorization and Slow Process, Reading  and Math
1
Chunking the material, review the material, Preview the material, sequencing, more frequency and less time, discussion and lots of visuals.










About the Class You Observed
1.    How much time is devoted each day to instruction in the classroom? Describe the class periods (if applicable)? Choose a content area of your specialty or major. How much time is devoted to teaching that subject?



2.    Is there any ability grouping or tracking? If so, please describe how it affects your class.
               The grouping is done by using their EOY MAP scores and is based on their reading level. There                                                         
        3 groups of 5 which work with a Reading Specialist and switch every 20 minutes.


3.    Identify any textbook or instructional program you primarily use for instruction. If a textbook, please provide the title, publisher, and date of publication. Social Studies
       1-4 English/Spanish: Houghton Mifflin 4th edition, 2007


4.    List other resources (e.g., SMARTBoard, manipulatives, online resources) used for instruction in this class. A smartboard is used for instruction. During the school year the students are provided with chromebooks to access online resources and do homework assignments. But they return them during the summer.


5. What do you know about what your students know, what can they do, and what are they learning to do? What do you know about your students’ everyday experiences, cultural backgrounds and practices, and interests? The students are predominantly first generation, of Mexican descent many were born here except 4 student who were born in Mexico. In 3rd Grade they were taught. Last year they were learning to identify the main idea and supporting details, they also worked on recounting events in a narrative such as a folktale, while reinforcing what they learned we are working on comparing two folktales and discussing how the themes are similar and different, using a Venn diagram.
  

6. Describe one teaching event. What best practices in teaching were used?
    I observed that the teacher was working with a student who was struggling in reading. The teacher was teaching sight words with specific sounds, “QU” Quiet Quilt Quail etc.  The teacher used the sound, then, introduced the words by putting her finger in front of her mouth. She said a sentence. “The students must be quiet when the teacher speaks.” Then she modeled using tile letters to spell the word “Quiet.” Then she worked together to help him spell the word using the tiles. Finally, she allowed him to do it alone and helped him put the word in a sentence of his own. She did this for 5 days introducing one word per day, always recapping on the word the student learned the previous day.  By the end of the week the student learned 5 new words.


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